I know many people who will tick one of those as best and they have their favorite vendor who prepares crawfish along those lines. Then there are the places that can make all batches taste alike and not vary among batches.

Let's get the terminology straight: a craw- (not cray-) fish boil is a party-type event, not a dish. You get invited to a crawfish boil, and while there, you eat boiled crawfish.

So the dish is termed boiled crawfish. If you are asking where to find the best boiled crawfish in the city, you'll find a huge range of opinions. Perino's Seafood on the Westbank, Zimmer's Seafood in Gentilly, Seither's Seafood in Harahan, the Galley on Metairie Road, Harbor Seafood in Kenner, Cajun Seafood on Broad near Washington Ave, Sal's Seafood in Marrero....in season, boiled crawfish aren't hard to find.

It's a sleeper. The latest entrant into the seafood/poboys/neighborhood restaurant category is Bevi on Airline Highway. I haven't yet tried it, but the menu looks promising: http://beviseafoodco.com/seafood/

According our friend Sam Irwin's book (mentioned elsewhere), ' 'Crawfish' was first used by 'eccentric Constantine when he was working in the Ohio River basin near Kentucky. The word 'crayfish,' based on the French word ecrivesse, was popularized by the English biologist T.H.Huxley in his 1880 tome entitled _The Crayfish;An Introduction to the Study of Zoology_" But you will see rerences to "crawfish' in the early XX Century. Waverly Root uses both "cray" and "Craw" in his _Food of France_. More "scientific" and :formal" publications tended to use "crayfish, in my experience. I was "present at the creation" of the printing of that Antoine's cookbook and in my view that spelling was the City distinction.

I just went to Seither's in Harahan this weekend and really was one of the better boiled crawfish platters I've had in a long time (since I lived with a Cajun from Sunset) - Hungry Celeste mentions it below - Sit outside and enjoy the sun, or in the little oyster bar to the left...great place.

I have not bought any in New Orleans this year so I cannot vouch for anynyone but most places like KJeans do a good job. I think it varies a bit from year to year. In recent years thr has been a machismo tendency to make themhotter than Hell and this gets old fast. It also makes leftover dishes like etouffee and bisque a problem. I wwent to a boil yesterday where they had the crawfish just about perfect. But atter the fifth or sixth batch(these were smaller pots than usual) it was getting out of hand. The corn burned your lips when you aate it. Several people claimed to like it but I suspect them of posturing.

Hungry Celeste or Uptown liberarian etc.may have been out checking.

Someone may know of a place that uses orange juice in the boiling mixture: this is a trick I got from the Vietnamese and it works well if not over done---which it eventually will be.

Hello--read the OP. There is NO one "the place" to get boiled crawfish. They're a commodity--basically all cooked the same way--boiled in seasoned water, usually accompanied by (at least) potatoes and/or corn (cooked in the same seasoned water). The only thing that varies is the spicing and the add-ins. Price and availability vary with the weather, and the price goes down as spring wears on.

Ok here is a a question I am pretty sure I know the answer to but have to ask. Two of the folks traveling down with us this October desperately want crawfish. We were in NOLA last October and were hard pressed to find these tasty little treats. Is there a restaurant that does crawfish year round or at least in October that you would recommend?

Crawfish is (are) seasonal and the season is in the spring. There are some crawfish sold in October/November but these are usually tail meat sold to roadside tourists. There is a touch of mendacity in the air....

Good question. I'm looking for the same answer. Am heading down to party in New Orleans for a double bachlorette party (brides marrying one another), and it's a mix of family and friends -- some quirky, some straight, some gay. We're renting a house for a long Memorial Day weekend and I'd love to have a crawfish boil at the house, but rather than stress out about the pot and the gas burner, I was wondering if any of my chowhounder friends could recommend a good party spot for a memorable boil.